Looking Back on Ten Years
Hey there, Homestead Friends!
The last time I checked in, we were still scarce on toilet paper and yeast. People were planting gardens and baking bread in ways I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. People were also gasping for breath in fluorescent-lit hospital rooms far from their families. We’ve been through (and continue to navigate) a deeply challenging time. I hope you’ve given yourself the space to feel into that, into the ways its changed all of us. I also hope you can wrap your hands around at least one small way that change has felt like growth - perhaps a saved seed or a sourdough starter to share. Personally, I’ve come to put even more of my faith in the power of these small gestures.
I don’t know about you, but 2023 has been so full steam ahead that I only recently lifted my head enough to realize that this past March marked ten years since our first Homestead Atlanta workshops kicked off. I’m so pleased to report that the wealth of hands-on workshops in Atlanta only continues to grow. I thought it might be fun to take a look at where some of our partners are and what they’re up to now! Check it out:
Herbalista Free Clinic
Herbalista Free Clinic and The Homestead Atlanta are almost birthday buddies, with the Free Clinic celebrating 10 years in service this February. To celebrate, Herbalista launched a FREE SCHOOL on the Teachable platform. Yup, free, top-notch herbal education. You should definitely check it out - more courses are being added throughout the year.
Lorna spends the majority of her time in Ireland now, growing free herbal services on the other side of the pond, while Marie-Lies of Fleur + Forage has taken over running the clinics and is preparing for an exciting fundraiser this May! The Grow-A-Row program continues to thrive with a learning garden in Summerhill. From Fire Cider Brigades to ongoing monthly Health Fairs, Herbalista continues to thrive as Atlanta’s number of people touched by these programs grows.
Goat n Hammer
Guess who else turned 10 this year? Goat n Hammer has been offering hands on instruction for blacksmithing, bladesmithing, knife grinding, and associated metalworking skills since 2013 - and they have some exciting news!
They are in the process of building a brand new shop from the ground up on a beautiful piece of land in Douglasville. They still have a few more projects to complete before resuming public classes, but they are scheduling a limited number of private lessons.
You can keep up with the progress of their build on Instagram or Facebook
Root Kitchens
Everybody’s favorite queen of fermentation, Julia Skinner, has been keeping busy since we last checked in - including publishing an amazing book called Our Fermented Lives: How Fermented Foods Have Shaped Cultures and Communities. In it, Julia explores the fascinating roots of a wide range of fermented foods in cultures around the world, with a focus on the many intersections fermented foods have with human history and culture, from the evolution of the microbiome to food preservation techniques, distinctive flavor profiles around the globe, and the building of community. The book was named one of Smithsonian Magazine’s 10 Best Books About Food in 2022 and one of Salon’s Favorite Books of 2022. Julia has also been nominated as a Georgia Author of the Year for Cookbooks of 2023.
Yours Truly
If this somehow made it to you and you’ve read this far but we haven’t met, hi! I’m Kimberly. I had the crazy dream of starting The Homestead Atlanta a decade ago. Even though we stopped offering programming in 2020, the importance of making and the handmade to people and community still captivates me and obsesses my little raccoon mind. Since closing The Homestead, I’ve turned my creative energies to narrative nonfiction writing exploring the intersection of craft, nature, and the human spirit. I’m also in the process of launching a newsletter for all my musings, so subscribe to that if you’d like to hear more about topics that probably interest you.
Well, Homesteaders, I hope this finds you safe and well. I’ve missed seeing your faces and get giddily excited every time I run into one of you in the wild. I’ll leave you with a quote I’ve turned to often in the past several years and will continue to turn to as we face our next collective challenges as a human culture; it’s from one of our oldest recorded stories - The Epic of Gilgamesh. We’re talking about 2000 BCE here, y’all. It’s OLD. And yet, it has this wisdom that has never been more relevant:
”I would grieve
At all that may befall you still
If I did not know you must return
And bury your own loss and build
Your world anew with your own hands.
I envy you your freedom.”
In the spirit of building the world anew with our own hands,
Kimberly